Despite having just hosted a big card with bigger names, SubStars has announced that financial difficulties will prevent them from hosting future events and may force them to file for bankruptcy.
The announcement comes after multiple independent reports to the Jiu-Jitsu Times that the promotion had told athletes that they would be unable to pay the competitors’ full purses following an unexpected lack of pay-per-view sales.
The Jiu-Jitsu Times reached out to SubStars for comment and were referred to the promotion’s then-upcoming post detailing the situation:
“SubStars at The Fillmore. It looks like it will be our last highlight video from SubStars. Due to financial reasons, we may be forced to file for bankruptcy. First, we want to apologize to everyone in advance. Secondly, we want to thank all of our supporters and to all the fighters who have made our events possible. Running SubStars has always been about exposing Jiu-Jitsu to new audiences and love of the sport. It still is for us, however, it appears we will no longer be able to continue hosting these events. Thank you to everyone involved.”
SubStars’ most recent event saw Gordon Ryan submit Tex Johnson in the main event. The card also featured a celebrity sumo match that further explored the concept of adding other martial arts matches into jiu-jitsu events, as other promotions have done in the past.
